L’arrestation de « Frère Hounvi », le chroniqueur anonyme, reste au cœur de l’actualité au Bénin. Lors d’une conférence de presse ce mercredi, Me Aboubakar Baparapé, avocat de la personne concernée, a révélé des détails importants sur cette arrestation.https://t.co/MbxnoIDELt pic.twitter.com/PZsKFH6yu3
— Africaho (@africaho1) August 15, 2024
Association and Expression
Activist living in exile abducted from Lomé, brought before court in Cotonou
On 12th August 2024, a group of individuals abducted Beninese cyberactivist and government critic Steve Amoussou, also known as Frère Hounvi (Brother Hounvi), from his residence in Lomé, Togo, where he had been staying since going into exile in 2019. He was taken to Cotonou, where he was first taken into custody by the economic and financial brigade of the police.
On 20th August 2024, Amoussou was presented, under heavy police presence, before the Court for the Repression of Economic Offences and Terrorism (CRIET), and charged with ‘harassment through electronic means’, ‘initiation and publication of false information through social networks’ and ‘direct provocation to rebellion’. The accusations relate to Amoussou’s Facebook posts, written under the pseudonym Frère Hounvi, in which he had been very critical of President Patrice Talon and Beninese authorities. The CRIET issued a committal order and Amoussou was transferred to the Missérété Civil Prison, where he awaits his court hearing scheduled for 7th October 2024.
On 3rd September 2024, CRIET found two individuals guilty of illegal arrest, and sentenced them to 24 months in prison, of which 12 months suspended, and a fine of five million CFA (approximately 8,500 USD). The third accused, Ouanilo Fagla Medegan, general director of the National Agency of Information Systems Security, was acquitted.
In Togo, the authorities have issued an arrest warrant for four individuals accused of kidnapping the Beninese activist and forcibly returning him to Benin. Additionally, a woman and a student have been arrested for complicity in the abduction.